City Love

I am once again, in New York, and wish I could be here for good.

I am in love with my church, and all of the things they do in the name of Jesus to reach the people of New York for him.  I am, as always, humbled by them.  

I came up with no plan, no places specifically to go, and I am loving the results.  I went to Connecticut for two days, and spent some time relaxing with the families who took me in this summer.  I forever thankful for those people in my life.  God has blessed me so much with families and friends all over this area, and their value in my life is indescribable.  For the two-and-a-half hour bus ride home, I relaxed and took in everything that was going on around me with some much needed thinking and prayer time.  I got a chance to refocus and prepare for the week ahead.  I haven't felt that blissful and relaxed in a while.  I-pod + warm scarf + sunset over New York City = a beautiful way to spend the afternoon. 

I came back from Connecticut, and immediately went to the Bowery to greet the LSU mission team, and to have dinner with them.  I have been pretty much nonstop since then.  After church today, we went ice skating with the youth, and I got to chaperone.  I cannot express the joy I get out of spending time with those youth, even if it gets to be stressful at times.  After wrangling them all up at the end of the night, we went back to Graffiti, waited around for parents, and then decided to go debrief.  So Christopher, the youth minister, and I, went to the Strand bookstore and enjoyed browsing one of New York's greatest shopping treasures - 18 miles of books.  We also explored the Union Square Holiday Market.  These are the kinds of days I look forward to whenever I am not here.  

I have no doubt, that even with no plans, the rest of my week will turn out just as eventful. 

Upcoming Adventure

I am two days away from being finished with school forever (well, until grad school at least).  This is a little scary but quite exciting.

I will check out on Wednesday, and in grand Danielle fashion, I am flying to New York Wednesday night.  I am hoping not to have to run off to NY all the time after this summer, because I will already be there :)  

I have been so busy it really doesn't feel like I'm going on a trip, but I am super excited about it as it is approaching.  Now I only have to get started on that packing (see below...) and find out where I'm going to get enough spending money.  

The weather report predicts lots of snow in Connecticut, where I will be on Thursday through Saturday.  Snow is something new and interesting for me, so I am super excited!  The Laws have warned me that there will be lots and lots of it...  

I am also, of course, thrilled to be going to see my Graffiti family.  I miss them like crazy.  I can't wait to be around them all the time.  I am staying with Ashley in my old MNYBA apartment, so that will be lots of fun too!  

I really am going to be sad to leave my kiddos, but I am ready for the next adventure. 

Pretty much, Wow

So this summer I have not been in "the city" much at all. Minus three days in Boston, a week in Providence, and a day-trip to my heart (aka, NY), I've spent most of my time in the suburbs, and in the country. Far cry from my normal "city girl" lifestyle, but fun and interesting nonetheless.

I am currently living in the basement room at a very cute old fashioned New England home, with a great family, in Hebron, CT. It's very different for me, but I'm loving it. We have a great youth group, and despite the fact that I'm only here for a short time, we've been having alot of fun throwing together events at the last minute to keep the kids occupied.

Last week we went to camp in Massachusetts, and I think I got just as much out of it (if not more) than my students did. We brought thirteen youth, and where I come from, that would fit into the smaller group category at camp. Because of the nature of New England, we were actually the average. There just aren't alot of Christians up here (approx. 1% of the population), and it's truly sad. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the 444 people there, and the speaker was absolutely amazing. I hope to be a part of that camp again sometime. It is put on every year specifically for students in New England. They require a bit of a different focus than many of the typical Bible-belt camps students go to.

Over the next year of my life, I have many decisions to make. At camp I really felt like God was making some of those decisions clear to me, so I will be spending the next several months preparing to accomodate for said decisions. This is why I decided to start blogging again. I will also be student teaching, and then (hopefully) in January, being a teacher full-time, so I'm sure there will be many adventures to speak of and many prayers to request. I hope to keep up, because I have a habit of getting out of the habit...